'The Hobbit' Is Finished

The Call Sheet sifts through the day's glut of Hollywood news to find the stories even non-industry types care about. Today: Shooting has completed in Middle Earth, J.Lo has a new show about lesbians, and we're heading back to Sweet Valley.

Peter Jackson announced on his blog that he has concluded principal photography on The Hobbit, the upcoming biopic of Tom Cruise. Haha, Tom Cruise is short. No, of course The Hobbit is the big two-part prequel to Lord of the Rings that has all those wild-brained Middle Earthers shittin' in their shires in anticipation. Yes, filming is done! Of course there are still months of editing and special effects tweaking and all that to be done, so it's not like you could go break into a studio in New Zealand and steal the completed film. Trust us, you can't. In a completely unrelated story, the Auckland police department is both professional and courteous. Just a random observation having nothing to do with anything. [Deadline]

J. "Jennifer Lopez" Lo is putting together a little television program for the raunchy, sex-filled ABC Family network. It's an hour-long drama about a lesbian couple "bringing a teenager into their home." Like as a kid, as a kid, not like... "Brought into their bed." That's a whole different, creepy expression. This is just — look, they already have kids, they're just bringing in another one for some reason. They're not, no, no it's not about that. (Though, depending on the cast, that show could be very popular.) It's a nice heartwarming mixed-family drama, is the idea, I guess. No word yet on who would play the lesbians, but we hear Wellesley College has expressed interest. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Ohhh, boy. Entertainment Weekly has an excerpt from the first book in a new Sweet Valley series, one that picks up after the action in Sweet Valley Confidential. That's the one where it's the future? And the Wakefield twins' brother is a gay? And Winston Egbert KILLED HIMSELF. Yeah, crazytown. Oh and Jessica is boffing Todd Wilkins. It's a big ol' mess and now there are going to be six more books set in that particular timeline, called The Sweet Life. So, will Zack and Cody be there? I really hope Zack and Cody aren't there. That would be too much, Francine. You hear me? Too much. [EW]

Interesting. There's a relatively misguided movie adaptation of Tracy Letts' beautiful, Pulitzer-winning, barnstormer of a play August: Osage County in the works starring Meryl Streep and, ugh, Julia Roberts. It doesn't seem like a good idea and we're worried they're going to ruin the play, etc. etc. But at least now they've cast the wonderful Andrea Riseborough, who was far and away the only good thing in Madonna's embarrassingly heavy-handed W.E. (she played Wallis Simpson), as the youngest daughter of Streep's pill-addled matriarch character. So that will be interesting! There's still another sister to cast and an aunt and an uncle and an ex-husband and a granddaughter and a housekeeper and a cop and a boyfriend and a patriarch, so we'll have to see how they do with all those. [The Daily Mail, via Vulture]

Here's a new international trailer for Taken 2, the sequel to Liam Neeson vs. The Albanians!, which was a big hit a few years ago. The wife gets taken this time! And it's probably still the Albanians.